A Dying Light II

The Consciousness Binding Spell was one Silora used on animals at her family's farm to make it easier to care for and move them around. She hadn't used this spell on her father's horse in the rainforest because the spell works on multiple targets at once. The effect of this spell is to create a mental link between several targets and bind their consciousness to one target—the caster. This spell does not allow thoughts to spread among the targets, but Silora had previously bypassed this restriction in her magical experiments behind her mother's back. This experiment ended disastrously, with nearly 20 sheep dying mentally as a result of her experiments. She was punished by her mother, who forbade her from using magic for a whole year (her mother used this time to teach her theoretical matters that would improve her shaping skills). As for the poor sheep, their meat was donated to a nearby small village.

Later, Silora learned that the Consciousness Binding Spell she had messed up was a rudimentary form of a new born forbidden soul spell. Of course, she was forbidden from looking in that direction. But now, necessity outweighs the rules.

Silora moved quietly out of the main cabin towards the front of the ship. She looked at the massive transparent barrier with a grim expression but refocused on the task at hand. She hid behind a wooden crate and placed her small hands on the cold wooden surface of the ship. The Consciousness Binding Spell is one of those ancient spells that have been reshaped. In principle, it is a systematic spell, but it is widely regarded as not being one. The rudimentary form of the soul spell that Silora created cannot be considered a systematic spell by any means because it abandons the complexities of its formation and the spell's intended purpose. This spell is directionless; it has a beginning, which is linking the consciousness of a group of individuals, then allowing thoughts to spread among the targets, but its end is undefined, as no end or goal has been set for it. If the caster does not stop it within a short time, the spell will go out of control (as happened on the farm).

'I hope what happened then doesn't happen now. I'll maintain the spell for only three seconds and then stop it. If I succeed in waking everyone up, then I'll move on to the second part of the plan... stop wasting time Sil.'

Taking a deep breath, Silora focused on the moving mana within her body. Every life form has its own life energy. This energy usually leaks from all parts of the body in an ordinary person, generally happening without the individual's knowledge to maintain the balance of the remaining energy in the body. Learning to feel this energy is the basic step to understanding how to manually control the opening and closing of these energy outlets. Then comes the step of retaining it within the body, as a first step to learning the art of mana by condensing this energy.

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Silora directed this mana towards her hands and began forming the patterns of the Consciousness Binding Spell in her mind. She closed her eyes to focus more; she didn't want the spell's structure to break in the middle, as the leaking mana might alert the assassin. After a second, she began to feel more than one consciousness appearing to her senses. If she were to count them, the number would be less than eighty. 'So many have died.' She ignored her fear and sadness to focus on every consciousness she could sense.

Consciousness can take on varying forms for humans, but it usually maintains the essence of its owner's form with variations depending on current emotions and mood. But every consciousness she felt now had a faint gray form with a mark of black wings on the forehead, indicating the approach of death. Silora felt the pressure of time weighing on her, but something else took part of her focus, slowing the spell's formation.

A small consciousness different from the rest, with a dark red color, red hair, and red eyes. Surprisingly, this consciousness was in her room. She wanted to know more about it, but she couldn't do that without establishing a connection. To do so, she refocused entirely on the spell. She continued forming it until she reached the pattern she had altered to create the so-called soul spell. What she had done before was, instead of creating an open connection pattern for the caster and a closed one for the targets, she created an open connection pattern for the caster and replicated the same open pattern for the targets. This messed up the spell beyond recognition to complete its formation, but it was also enough for the spell to work.

Once Silora carefully formed the patterns, the spell began to work. She quickly severed her connection with the targets' consciousness; she didn't want to be assaulted by their collective thoughts. But she maintained her connection with the different consciousness from her room. She could now see it clearly. '*confused*Mom? ... What...' Before she could finish her thoughts, the consciousness spoke with clear fear and anxiety, the same voice that had woken her from the supposed sleep spell, [Behind you!!!].

Before Silora could react, she felt her body take an unnatural shape. Her face smashed into the wooden crate she had been hiding behind. The force of the impact was enough to turn the crate into small splinters. Her small body flew high into the air with great force. Before her mind could catch up with her body's sudden flight, her right side collided with terrifying force against the ship's massive mast. She heard a frightening crack from her hand and ribs, but she didn't have time to feel anything before her back crashed again into the barrier around the ship. She heard another loud crack, but she didn't know if it was her bones or the barrier itself. She moved her eyes to understand what was happening, but what met her gaze was the sight of the large stairs leading to the bridge rushing towards her at great speed. Head first, her body smashed into the wooden stairs.

Silora lost any human feeling she had ever possessed. She felt an emotional and mental detachment, as if she were looking at herself from the outside, as if she were in a dream. But she did not lose her focus and clarity of thought. At that moment, she did not think about what had happened or her next step, 'Why does my mother's consciousness reside in the spellbook?'

Silora looked with dullness and indifference at the bloody piece of wood that had pierced her neck. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes... forever.